by Regan Black
Lacing his fingers through hers on the seat between them he gave her a squeeze. “You’ve given me real hope, Chloe. I wish I had something more than testimony to offer you.”
“Did I ask?”
“I want you to feel like you could,” he said, meeting her gaze.
The stark vulnerability in his eyes shattered the last of her common sense and logical defenses. Before she could tell him what he made her feel in these past days, the limo slowed and stopped.
She peered out the window and gasped. “The Wilmont?” She could hardly believe it. The splendid hotel on Michigan Avenue was known for its upscale dining and elegant European style. Danny’s hand at the small of her back guided her forward at a pace that gave her time to appreciate every fine detail. “I like your safe house better than mine,” she whispered, leaning into him.
“Well, it’s not forever,” he teased. “But it is discreet. No chance of Messenger’s men blending in here.”
Only the man himself, she thought, suppressing a chill as she recalled Danny’s description of the lethal mastermind. “One night here will last me a lifetime,” she promised. Neither of them knew what tomorrow would bring, no one ever could.
As the elevator carried them up to their floor, she decided to seize the time and the man in front of her. She turned into him, twined her arms around his neck and brushed her lips across his. “I need you, Danny.”
His gaze held her, breathless while she waited for his reply. The kiss was almost too subtle to bear. The contact sent a soft buzz through her system, no less impactful than the hot jolt she’d felt in that shocking embrace they’d shared at her safe house. His hands glided up and down her spine and when the elevator chimed and the doors opened, her body trembled in sweet anticipation.
They barely made it over the threshold, the door whispering closed even as she pushed his shirt up and away, eager to fill her hands with his tough, sculpted muscles. The adrenaline of recent days faded under the sensual onslaught of Danny’s tender, urgent response. Their mouths mated, his tongue twining with hers while her hands fumbled with his belt and the fly of his jeans.
He stilled her hands, lifting them over her head, holding them there against the wall as he leaned his hips into hers. She sighed at the feel of his arousal pulsing gently at her hip and the masculine scent of him surrounding her, seducing her.
“Relax,” he teased. “Breathe. We’ve got this.”
She laughed at him echoing the words she’d given him when he’d been so weak after helping her escape the UI team. Right now, she was weak with craving him. Time seemed to slow just so she could bank each separate, delicious touch. His warm breath fluttered over her throat and lower, his hands skimming her ribs and back up, cupping her breasts until at last he took one tight bud into the heat of his mouth.
Moaning she arched into his touch and he boosted her up, crossing the suite to the bed. The linens were cool and smooth at her back while his hands were rough, driving her need up and up as he tossed aside her shoes, drawing her jeans and panties down her legs. She watched him strip, her mouth watering as he took his sweet time with it. Naked at last, he held her gaze as he braced over her and gave her another scorching kiss.
He murmured encouragement as she bucked and rolled him over, straddling his lean hips. She kissed his lips, his jaw, the strong line of his neck, nuzzling the hollow between his collar bones until he groaned. His fingers bit into her hips as she moved across his torso, teasing them both.
“You’re playing with fire, Chloe.”
“I know.” She flicked her tongue against his flat nipple.
His body surged, his hands digging into her backside as he dragged her wet folds over his erection. Her breath stalled out as she changed the angle and took him deep into her body in a long, slow slide.
He linked her hands with his, let her set the pace, stoking the passion with each circle of her hips. His gaze turned dark, hazed with passionate promises and she felt herself nearing the peak when he reached between them to touch the sweet spot that sent her over. On a helpless cry, her body clutched him as the climax rushed over her. He thrust hard once, twice, then a last time as his release caught him up.
Still joined, her breath ragged, she snuggled into his arms as he drew her close, cradling her head on his shoulder. His heartbeat hammered under her chest, a beautiful affirmation of surviving. Thriving. Loving.
Though she knew the foolishness of it, for now she let her heart fall, open and vulnerable, into his hands.
*
Danny sat on the edge of the bed, smoothing Chloe’s hair back from her face. Spending the night here, indulging every sensual whim, had been a risk worth taking. Happy endings weren’t likely with the curve balls life had thrown him, but this interlude with her… it was more than he’d hoped for.
Her silky hair slipped through his fingers, her eyelashes dark fans against her creamy skin. She was so trusting in her sleep. So peaceful. This was one more memory to cherish, one that would always give him a smile. He wanted her to wake almost as much as he wanted her to sleep until noon. He would need the head start.
Unfortunately, he hadn’t anticipated how much he wanted to find a way to stay with her. If he could float in the shadowy edges of her life it would be enough. Right up to the moment when someone else recognized him.
And then everything she valued would crumble and it would be on his shoulders. Unlike the allies she’d made of her ex’s family, eventually associating with him would cost her everything she’d worked for. He had nothing to offer, could barely protect her.
This interlude would have to be enough, at least until he could stop Messenger once and for all.
She nuzzled her cheek into his palm and he smiled. So trusting, so committed and he had to break both those bonds. This time when his stomach twisted it had nothing to do with his enhancement and everything to do with the sacrifice he had to make.
God he wanted to stay, to wrap her in his arms and forget the rest of the world existed. And that sort of mistake would cost them both. She’d be furious when she woke up alone, but in time she’d have to admit that was the only way to truly protect her.
Ben would keep an eye on her and when it was clear, when Messenger was finally dead, he’d give her a way to contact Danny. Assuming he survived long enough to take the call.
Silently, he slipped out of the room.
*
Grumpy, Chloe tossed back the sheet a moment after the room door closed. He’d left her, the jerk. It had been clear in that last touch, the coward. Why didn’t he trust her to help him?
Sitting up, her anger faded almost as swiftly as it had come on. She hugged her knees to her chest and tried to be pragmatic. Of course they couldn’t stay together, he was a dead man. On paper anyway. In person, he was full of life and he’d filled her, body and soul, in ways she thought were beyond her reach.
She was in law enforcement, obligated to bring criminals in no matter how they might have been used against their will to commit those crimes. Her job wasn’t to make love to them and set them free to wander, no matter how sexy and remorseful they might be.
And that was being a bit hard on herself, she admitted, padding to the bathroom for a shower. This interlude with Danny was the first time she’d even felt tempted by a suspect. He’d saved her life and done his best to protect her by diverting the attention of his lethal superiors.
While the hot water poured over her body she longed for Danny’s talented mouth and callused hands. She turned the water to cool and made quick work of cleaning up. She’d find a way to help him, whether or not he’d asked outright. After hearing his story, getting the full picture of the honorable man he’d been and wanted to be again, there was no way she would allow this covert, nasty agency to keep operating unchecked.
It was something to do, a way to honor the place Danny would always hold in her heart.
Chapter 7
So far, Danny approved of flying via private service. The charter
ed flight to Montana was as easy and smooth as the hop from New York City to Chicago had been. Flying this way, without the hassle of commercial or the heavy gear and delays of military was a luxury he could get used to.
He wondered if this bodyguard business Hank had started used a charter service. Sure it was a silly detail to focus on, but it served as an effective distraction from the cold truth. Working with UI had once more wrecked his life. He’d been forced to walk away from a woman he cared about toward a life he wasn’t sure he could fit into.
“You okay?”
He flinched. He was flying with a man who’d narrowly escaped the worst aspects of UI. It was hard not to be jealous. “I’m good.”
“Tough leaving behind the people you care about,” Scott said.
“Better than staying with her until she got killed in the crossfire,” Danny replied.
“True.” Scott ducked his head to look out the window. “Did you have any contact with other operatives when you were inside?”
“No. After I healed from the combat wounds and the enhancements I wasn’t in the lab much.”
“You didn’t see any more invisible agents did you?”
“Is that a trick question?”
Scott laughed. “No. Ben is sort of obsessed with finding out if they’ve built more operatives like him.”
“Let’s hope they broke the mold,” Danny replied. “Why?”
Scott shrugged. “He’s never been forthcoming with why. It’s either someone he knew during his time in the labs, or he simply wants to be aware of the possibility we might face Ben 2.0 someday. The men from Hank’s team who help us guard the perimeter can only warn us about trouble they see.”
Scott crossed the aisle and sank into the seat facing Danny. “I get the impression that Ben thought it was over when they took down the main lab. He’s obsessed with finding the new locations.”
“Plural?”
Scott nodded. “I’ve only been involved a few months, but smaller, satellite labs is the most logical conclusion.”
“Easier to keep small teams controlled and quiet,” Danny mused.
He desperately wanted to start helping the good guys again. It was why he’d lied to Chloe about his plans. Helping Scott and Ben meant helping her by default. Instead of tracing his steps from previous missions in Chicago, he’d agreed to fly out and meet with Hank. Depending on the meeting, he would use his new skill set for good men rather than to forward Messenger’s agenda.
Scott settled back into the seat. “The boss is looking forward to meeting you. I think you’ll get along. We’re supposed to be ready for anything, since Messenger knows you have ties to Patterson.”
Danny couldn’t change what had been public record, though UI had done a fine job of rewriting his history. “I don’t want to bring more trouble down on anyone.” He looked out the window but they were above the clouds and the blue sky stretching out forever was almost offensively hopeful.
“If you bail out now, Hank will be furious with us,” Scott said, practically reading his mind.
Danny sighed. “I’m not going to bail.” Yet. “Walk me through the airport layout. I like to be prepared.”
Scott perked up as he shared the information. “We thought about flying into a different airfield, but that’s pointless and only gives Messenger more time to set up an ambush. Montana is about as far from urban as you can get. There aren’t a lot of options between town and the ranch. The key will be moving fast and staying ahead of him. The abundance of second-stringers will give us an advantage too,” he finished.
Danny cocked his head at the new term. “What does second-stringer mean?”
“Messenger’s been forced to play with a team that isn’t enhanced like you, Ben or the others,” Scott replied. “According to Ben, they’re much easier to deal with than the unbreakable kind of operatives he used to have on his security detail.”
“Unbreakable?” He hadn’t seen anyone in the labs lately that fit that description.
“I’ve been told the first focus of UI was to create a true super soldier. People enhanced more like our boss, John. The goals were extreme endurance, indestructibility, and ruthlessness.
“According to Ben it took a long time and loads of failures to perfect the basic formulas.” Scott’s gaze drifted to the clouds outside the windows. “I was never in the labs the way you were. Messenger tried to work me over mentally, morally. That was bad enough.”
Danny’s first memories of UI were hazy and pain-filled as he recovered from the gunshot wound and concussion. He’d thought he was in a hospital for a time, and he might have been. When the worst was behind him, the stark room had felt more like a cell and the questions had mounted.
“The researchers and current attempts at enhancement aren’t any fun either,” he said, wondering if he’d ever really forget the things he witnessed at the lab.
“Ben wanted me to ask you if they still have that proving ground out in the middle of nowhere Virginia?”
“No idea,” Danny replied. “They never put me to the test in a rural area.” He’d always been on the gritty, windy rooftops of Chicago, Detroit, and New York, learning how to use the device they’d built for him to extend his reach of eavesdropping or disruption.
“How did you get away?” he asked Scott.
The younger man’s gaze dropped to his linked hands. “John’s wife noticed a strange news article that was probably meant to be buried. She’s good like that,” he added with a smile. “Anyway, Messenger railroaded me and two of my friends for murder, then broke us out of prison and made it look like we died in a car accident on the road during our escape. The bodies in the vehicle weren’t us, obviously.”
Danny wondered if that’s how Messenger was disposing of the soldiers that didn’t survive the lab-rat phase of UI.
“Messenger gave me an ultimatum,” Scott continued, his jaw set. “Ben found me before I had to decide how to handle it.”
Before Danny could ask what sort of ultimatum, the pilot’s voice filled the cabin, announcing the start of their descent. He was looking forward to meeting, John, the man Ben and Scott served with such loyalty. It would surely be more comfortable than facing Hank again.
“When we land, give me time to listen for Messenger or any of his goons are in the area,” Danny said. He was hoping like hell he heard Messenger leading a team here. That would be a brief assurance that Chloe was safe.
“They’ll be expecting that,” Scott pointed out. “Are you sure?”
“Yes. They don’t know how good I am without the handy device they built for me.”
Scott grinned, clearly looking forward to whatever awaited them when they landed. Danny wasn’t sure which one of them was more surprised when the only radio chatter he could pick up was the standard between air traffic control and the pilots in the area.
“Call Ben. Please,” he said when they loaded into Scott’s truck parked at the airfield. “If he isn’t here, he’s in Chicago.” And Chloe and Ben were in trouble and he was too far away to help her.
Scott made the call, putting it on the speaker. The quick confirmation from Ben that all was calm did little to settle Danny’s nerves.
He focused on the scenery, realizing Scott hadn’t been exaggerating about the wide open, rural spaces. The big sky was gorgeous and the quiet more than a little intimidating after years of the constant drone of city life.
Danny’s belly jumped as Scott turned down the long drive of Hank’s ranch. He’d spent the past four years focused solely on survival, on shedding the man he’d been, since he never thought to reclaim his old life.
It seemed too good to be true to be here now, on the verge of seeing a man he proudly served with. According to Messenger, his SEAL team believed he’d died on that coastline, dragged into the cold sea.
Suddenly he was sure this was the dumbest idea ever. What was the saying about going home again? He had no business intruding on Hank this way, not after what he’d done.
&nbs
p; “Turn around,” he said to Scott, his voice cracking. He cleared his throat and repeated the words with more authority.
“No.” Scott kept his gaze on the driveway.
The house was too close, the meeting all wrong. Messenger’s men knew exactly where he was going. Who else would he come all this way to see? They would pounce any second now.
He reached for the door. If he bailed out and ran, UI would have no reason to bother Hank. Ben and Scott had told him his friend had a wife and daughter now and a thriving business.
“Don’t do it,” Scott said. “You’ll get banged up and embarrass yourself. Neither Hank nor John will be happy if you arrive with unnecessary injuries.”
“You said Messenger enhanced your boss,” Danny prompted, searching for a distraction.
“He was one of the first UI operatives and worked as Messenger’s top attack dog until he finally broke the leash.”
“What did they do to him?”
“He’s bulletproof,” Scott said, pulling to a stop in front of a quiet-looking home with a fresh coat of paint and a long front porch.
“Be serious.”
“I am. No one jokes about John Noble.”
Danny digested that as he studied the house. It didn’t match any of the descriptions he recalled from Hank’s stories of growing up out here. Maybe he’d just painted a different picture in his mind, but it felt off. He climbed out of the truck and looked around, realizing they weren’t at Hank’s place at all.
“Where are we?” The house was situated at the wrong angle to take advantage of the views Hank talked about. Not to mention the pastures were non-existent and the barn—
“Danny Boy.”
Recognizing Hank’s voice, even after all this time and the experiments on his hearing, Danny whipped around. His friend seemed frozen in shock or disbelief. Both, probably.
“Sorry,” he said. It seemed the best he could offer.
Hank was down the steps in a blink, his arms around Danny in a bruising hug. “You’re alive.”
